The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-06-30
Ell EcrRICITY TO THE FRONT.
Austin to be One of the First Tex
as Cities to Use the Flash of
Heaven,

Austin to be One of the First Tex
as Cities to Use the Flash of
Heaven.
| A few days ago there was mentioned
i'll The STATESMAN, the filing of charter
for the Austin Light Power and Water Co.
Charters are easily obtained, If you pay
| for them, and very few folks, save those
directly interested, ever remember any
thing about charter or a corporation,
but in this instance there must be excep-
ton made, for the company recently organ
lied proposes to make itself heard in the
land, and before it is through with its
work it will not only be felt, but it will. be
appreciated all over the city.
The object of the organization is
modestly stated to be to furnish light and
motive power for domestic, commercial
and street lighting purposes. Under
these three heads are to be covered the
whole of the comforts of existence, and
these are what are demanded, and what 1t
is proposed to supply.
A brick building AZ by "a feet will be
erected at once on plot of ground ad-
Joining the water works, and
plant of machinery, costing
100000, will be established. The company
proposes to operate the Westinghouse sys-
tenn of lights, from the Westinghouse
Electric company, of Pittsburg, Pa, and
will, at the outset, be ready to offer 5,ooo
lights for the people to use.
1t is not expected, of course, that this
number of lights will be taken by the city
and by public institutions; on the con-
trary, it is calculated that private families
| 4 bo l;S,h InQamuCh n
it can be put in at cheaper cost than gas.
One gentleman, Mr.. Mike Butler, has al
ready engaged the light for his private
residence, and has ordered thirty-tive
lights to be set in the elegant new home
he is erecting.
The company intend to begin work by
running a single wire circuit from their
works up the Avenue out into the sixth
ward as far as Colonel Driskilrs residence,
and then down Rio Grande street to the
works. making distance of four miles OF
main wire. From this main wire, which
will be about the size of an ordinary lead
pencil, small circuits will be run to supply
demands over the city, and as demands
may increase, the circuit will be extended
The motive power will be run for the
operation of printing presses, elevators
coffee mills, laundrles, church organs
sewing machines, dining room fans, and
all other establishments requiring a
power within the range of the works OF
the company. The new capitol, with its
elevators and its many lights, will be an
especial object to which the company
will give attention, and when the plant is
com pleted propositions will be made to
extend the wires to the lunatlc asylum
and the blind and deaf and dumb insti-
tutes. Especial attention will be given to
the lighting of churches, which it ia claimed
can be done on large discount
over gas rates. The plant that will be
placed in operation in this city, is the
largest in the south, outside of New Or
leans, and is very nearly an exact dupll-
cate of that one. To give an idea OF
what it will be, the following facts are
stated. The building will be 42x94, with
ceilings twenty feet in the clear. The
boiler room will be 40x40. There will be
four 1OO-horse power boilers, in addition
to which steam pipes will connect with
, three boilers in the water works, thus
, making a battery of seven boilers, and
, seven hundred horse power force. IhlS
3 is only one-half of the steam
, force that is proposed to bt
put in when occasion requires. There
( will be two one hundred and fifty horse
power engines; one of seventy-fve horse
! power and two of thirty-fve horse
$ power each. There will be three Brush
) dynamos with capacity for 10 arc
: lamps; three Westinghouse incandescen
q dynamos of 1900 light power each
: making of lncandescent lights, say 4,ooC
of sixteen candle power each. The gen
v eral circuit will be wired for 5000 light
!, from the beginning. The company ex
=; poets to have their plant in full operation
in about three months, by whicl
:. time they will be able to sa.
r to the city for just ex
actly what sum they will ligh
g the town throughout. The street lamp
n to be used will be of twenty-five candl
d power, while those for residences
S offices, etc., will be of ten, sixteen an
# twenty-five candle power, according t.
It order. The Westinghouse system, using
q the silk carbon, makes a pure, steady
white light that is particularly pleasan
Y to the eye.
e Mr.. j. Holt Gates, of Pittsburg, Pa,
in the city, representing the Westine
a house company, and is assisting Captain
RI Mather in the work of opening the me-
e enterprise. Mr.. Gates has just closed
contract for putting heavy plant of tn
;r WESTINGHOUSE system in Galveston.